Sometimes, God allows bad situations to come to us, in order to teach us some of the principles of life. (Matthew 14:23-33)
Here, we find Jesus describing Peter as having “little faith”. Jesus sends His disciples away in a boat to cross over to the other side of the country, yet He Himself stays behind to dismiss the multitudes, and afterwards goes up a mountain to pray. He knew the weather forecast, He knew that some strong wind was going to blow contrary to their direction and put them in harm’s way, He knew that their faith was still too small to trust Him without seeing Him physically present with them. He knew all this, yet He still sends them into the eye of the storm literally.
The Difficult Questions
Does this read like a situation you’ve been through, or are currently going through? You may ask: ‘But why? Why does God bother to try or test my faith or allegiance to Him when He already knows that I love Him so much? Why does He let the devil always leverage on my weaknesses to attack me since He knows that I always fall? What is the point of these trials and tests?’
These questions are some of the most difficult questions in Christianity, for which there is no single adequate answer. But all answers draw to one conclusion: we always learn from each fall; whether the fall was ours, or someone else’s. You see, God designed the Christian walk – the walk with Him – to be a learn-as-you-go kind of walk. You can never stop learning from your walk with Him. Just when you think you’ve got Him all figured out (at least, to a large extent), just when you think that the biggest test is behind you, you come face-to-face with an even bigger challenge, and you realize that the type of trials and tests that you face at each stage of your walk with God is somewhat designed to suit that stage; not more than you have the grace to handle (see 1 Corinthians 10:13).
What Should be Our Attitudes during Trials and Tests?
God wants us to keep up the practice of 1 Peter 5:6-10 (please read it). He said to the Children of Israel concerning their enemies which surrounded them, “I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you” – Exodus 23:29. Most times, God does not wipe away all our problems in one fell swoop. This is because prosperity or success can be deadlier than challenges or oppression. Prosperity and success contain a measure of “beasts” in them. When they are not contained, or we have not grown in grace enough to contain them, they can consume us. We must be careful not to seek to get out of God’s plans for us, however uncomfortable they might seem at the moment. He says that His plans for you are “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). And what should be our plans? Trust and learn during these trials and tests. Our plans should be to trust Him and learn all we can from each fall or progress. When He sees that we have “learned of Him” (see Matthew 11:29), only then can He advance us to the next phase.
Grace! 💪
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Go to the miracle lessons page for the other miracle lessons.
I was around 5 when, I am strongly convinced, I first heard the distinct voice of God. But, not until I was 11 (2002) did I have a personal encounter with Him. I was in my room that night, about to pray before bed, when I saw a revelation of how filthy my heart was. I didn't argue with God that I was too young to have such amount of filth ('cause I believed I was a 'good boy,' by human standards, at least). I simply cried uncontrollably in brokenness of heart - "The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God" (Psalm 51:17) - and He didn't.
Still crying uncontrollably, I left my room and went to the living room, where my parents were watching the nightly news on TV. After I managed to tell them about the revelation I saw, my sweet mum took me to her room and led me to Christ. I got saved that night. And 6 years later, I discovered my purpose and assignment on earth, which is raising up men and women to be godly, and teaching them the simplicity of Christianity. More than a decade later, I am still fulfilling that purpose to His glory. Hallelujah!
